Category Archives: Delta Air Lines

Price of seven U.S. airline stocks on Google Finance after the stock market closed today.

Fears about the Ebola disease deflated U.S. airline stocks today — one day after public health officials reported the nation’s first confirmed Ebola patient had flown from Liberia to Dallas two weeks ago.

UPDATED AT 3:45 P.M.: Overall, seven U.S. airline stocks declined more than the Dow Jones stock index’s drop of 1.4 percent today. During the day, all seven stocks traded lower than their closing prices — down as much as 5.2 percent (United Airlines).

The U.S. Ebola case is “pressuring airline stocks a little bit,” Stifel Financial Corp. analyst Joe Denardi told Bloomberg News. “The worse the news headlines get about this, the more risk there is to airlines.”

U.S. carriers operate only a handful of flights to Africa, where the Ebola virus outbreak is concentrated. Any potential financial threat to the U.S. airline industry would occur if travelers cut back on flying for fear of exposure to Ebola, similar to what happened with severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003, Denardi said.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden yesterday said there was “zero risk of transmission” of Ebola on the commercial airline flight which carried the Ebola patient. In a live briefing yesterday from Atlanta, he said the person showed no symptoms before boarding the plane and was not contagious.

The Associated Press today identified the patient as Thomas Eric Duncan, based on an interview with his sister.

The name of the airline and the route of travel have not been disclosed.

Shares of American and Southwest declined even though both companies yesterday said they weren’t involved with the Ebola patient.

An American Airlines spokeswoman said the airline “was told the passenger was not on a connecting flight involving our aircraft.” A Southwest spokesman said the CDC has not contacted it and has “no information about Southwest being involved in any way.”

No airlines serve Africa directly from Dallas airports and none of the major U.S. carriers with overseas networks — American, United and Delta Air Lines — fly to Liberia. However, the patient could have arrived in Dallas from connecting flights in another country or U.S. city.

The patient arrived in the United States on Sept. 20 to visit family, developed symptoms on Sept. 24 and was admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas on Sept. 28. The patient, who is critically ill, is being kept in isolation at the hospital, according to the CDC.

A Dallas city official today told Delta Air Lines that it can no longer fly from Dallas Love Field as of Oct. 13 — the same day the Wright Amendment expires at the city-owned airport and other airlines will expand their flying.

The full story by my colleague Robert Wilonsky is on The Dallas Morning News‘ City Hall blog.

American Airlines and its US Airways subsidiary ranked among the U.S. passenger airlines that saw higher employment in March from a year earlier, according to data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Employment at all U.S. passenger airlines rose 0.8 percent, or by 3,070 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs), to 383,610. March was the fourth straight month of higher employment from last year.

One day after Southwest Airlines launched special fares of $99 or less to 15 new cities from Dallas Love Field, some competing carriers have matched or come close to that price but only on certain days in certain cities from mid-October to mid-November.

As of 3 p.m. yesterday, only one airline — Virgin America — matched Southwest’s special one-way fares of $99 on some routes, according to Tom Parsons, chief executive of BestFares.com.

Today, Fort Worth-based American Airlines, which flies out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, is matching Southwest’s $198 round-trip fares to Los Angeles but only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, Parsons said. American also today is coming close to matching Southwest’s prices to Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa, Fla., and Nashville at $218 round trip, he said.

In comparison, American’s cheapest flight to New York LaGuardia from mid-October to mid-November is around $328 round-trip.

US Airways, which is a sister airline to American, is offering $198 round-trip to its Phoenix hub.

A spokesman for American and US Airways said the carrier doesn’t comment on pricing or airfares.

One reason why matching fares are spotty or non-existent by rival airlines is that Southwest’s travel time table is “so far out,” Parsons said. “Why give it away at $198. The low fares are pretty much to tourist destinations, not business destinations except LA.”

To complicate pricing matters, some airlines have fare sales that may or may not be related to Southwest.

Frontier Airlines is offering $98 round-trip fares from Dallas to Denver in October, Parsons said. And Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have a $189 round-trip fare sale to Las Vegas, San Diego and Ontario, Canada, from September through mid-October, he said.

Southwest’s introductory Dallas fares are available through May 23 for travel between Oct. 13 and Dec. 17 to the first seven cities, and for travel Nov. 2 to Dec. 17 to the final eight cities. The fares do not apply to flights Nov. 22-26 and Nov. 28-Dec. 1.

Instead of Terry Maxon’s three idle thoughts for Friday, I thought I’d offer some recent tidbits about the intersection of technology and airlines from around the world:

* Luggage etags

More airlines are developing digital luggage tags and tracking systems to speed up the check-in process and make lost luggage a thing of the past.

The idea is to replace the long paper luggage tags airline agents loop around luggage with a hard plastic reusable tag. The new tag uses electronic ink technology as with a Kindle to display a passenger name, flight information and a bar code.

Air France and KLM have been working on an electronic bag tag and baggage tracker – eTag and eTrack, according to media reports. (See video above.)

Last fall, British Airways began testing a digital luggage tag that works with an airline smartphone app. (See video below.)

* More airlines offer social seating

Airline passengers typically fall into two categories: Those who like to talk to strangers during a flight and those who don’t.

South African Airways has launched an online and mobile check-in feature to help passengers choose a seat based on common interests with fellow passengers. If you like to knit, perhaps you can sit next to a person who owns a yarn store.

South African Airways’ Social check-in helps passengers evaluate empty seats by who occupies the nearby seats. Here’s how it works: At check-in, passengers can share certain Facebook details about themselves, such as interests or their job. Other passengers can see your details and you can see their information.

American Airlines (and its US Airways subsidiary) and Southwest Airlines have no plans to implement social seating or e-tag technology at the moment. Both airlines are in the middle of merger integrations — American with US Airways and Southwest with AirTran Airways.

“We have our work cut out for us until we are fully combined into a single airline, but innovations including digital luggage tags and social seating options are customer benefits we will keep on our radar until we are at a point where we can begin to innovate on a larger scale,” said American spokesman Casey Norton.

U.S. airlines carried 52.4 million total passengers in February — basically flat from a year earlier — as the number of flights declined, according to data released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Among the top 10 U.S. airlines, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, excluding AirTran Airways, saw the largest gain in the number of passengers boarding planes (enplaned passengers), up 6.2 percent to just under 7.9 million people for the year ended February.

The number of U.S. and international (systemwide) flights fell 5 percent in February. Passengers flew slightly longer flights.

Fort Worth-based American Airlines saw a 0.2 percent increase to about 6.4 million enplaned passengers and its US Airways subsidiary saw a 8.7 percent drop to about 4.4 million enplaned passengers. The American Eagle regional carrier saw a 5.6 percent decline to nearly 1.3 million enplaned passengers.

Here are some other details for February:

* The number of U.S. passengers decreased 0.5 percent to 45.5 million, while the number of international passengers increased 2.6 percent to 6.9 million.

Last Monday, Virgin America founder Sir Richard Branson was joined by employees during a Dallas rally to build support for the Love Field gates. (AP Photo/Virgin Ameria/Bob Riha Jr.)

The city of Dallas today gave its approval for airline Virgin America to get two gates at Dallas Love Field to expand its North Texas operations, putting an end to a months-long debate.

“We are very pleased to have the opportunity to bring new competition to Love Field, an important airport for travelers because of its proximity to the city’s central business district,” Virgin America chief executive David Cush said today in a statement.

Virgin America, Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines have been vying for use of two gates that American Airlines must divest as part of a Nov. 12 antitrust settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice related to its merger with US Airways. Airlines want access to Love Field as Wright Amendment flight restrictions there expire Oct. 13.

American and Virgin America signed an agreement for the two gates and the DOJ approved the deal. Virgin America just needs Dallas city manager A.C. Gonzalez’s stamp of approval per American’s original lease agreement with the city.

Dallas City council was briefed on the matter last week, but city officials have not express support for any particular airline. However, a report prepared for the city by L.E.K. Consultants about the competing requests for the Love Field gates concluded that Southwest would bring more good for Dallas citizens and businesses than Virgin America or Delta Air Lines.

The DOJ said it would reject city proposals to give the gates to Southwest or Delta. And in a letter sent to the city early last week, the DOJ said giving the gates to Virgin America would increase competition at Love Field and was the only airline that would fulfill terms of its settlement with American. American does not currently use the Love Field gates and subleases them to Delta and Seaport Airlines.

Gonzalez had said he expected to make a decision by the end of last week, but it came today instead.

“Contrary to reports, this was not a competition,” Gonzalez said today in a statement. “While initially, the City was told to expect a collaborative process, the Justice Department eventually required American Airlines to sub-lease the Love Field gates to a chosen airline.”

He said the city took additional time to “make sure our actions would be responsible and capture the vision of the Justice Department’s selected carrier.”

Virgin America will provide a performance guaranty in the form of a $4 million irrevocable letter of credit to American to ensure the lease obligations, according to a memo sent from Gonzalez to the Dallas City Council members.

The city also incorporated Virgin’s publicly stated intentions into a compliance agreement, Gonzalez said. The agreement includes:

* Obligates Virgin to comply to standards included in the city’s noise abatement program.

* Clarifies and expands how unused gate space might be made accessible to other airlines.

* Protects the city from possible legal expense through an indemnification clause.

“I applaud Mr. Gonzalez for his thorough approach to making this important decision,” Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said today in a statement. “I support his approval of the sublease between American Airlines and Virgin America because it is best for the citizens of Dallas.”

After last week’s City Council meeting, Virgin America chief executive David Cush said he was “highly confident” his airline would get the gates. Last week, the airline launched a campaign to “free Love Field,” bringing its high-profile British founder Richard Branson to a rally in Dallas and writing a “love letter” to the city.

Branson told The Dallas Morning News that he visited Dallas last week “to get across the idea that competition matters — that competition is beneficial obviously to the traveling public.”

Virgin America operates six daily flights to San Francisco and Los Angeles from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, but plans to move operations to Love Field in October if they get the gates.

Southwest has said it would use the two gates to add 20 more flights to five new destinations. Southwest CEO Gary Kelly noted that his airline lowers fares when it enters markets, doesn’t charge for bags or to change reservations and overall offers benefits to travelers that other carriers do not.

The Dallas-based carrier has 16 of the 20 gates at Love Field. United Airlines operates two gates.

JetBlue Airways has become the latest airline to let pilots use tablet computers in the cockpit in this week’s apparent “electronics in the air” theme.

The fourth generation Apple iPad. (Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP/Getty Images)

JetBlue today said it received regulatory approval to give all of its pilots custom-equipped Apple iPads, eliminating many paper manuals and documents and saving fuel.

The New York-based airline has begun handing out iPads to 2,500 pilots after testing them with a smaller crew over several months.

On Monday, American Airlines said it has finished rolling out its electronic flight bag program to pilots on all flights. The Fort Worth-based carrier also is expanding its in-flight tablet program to more than 16,000 active flight attendants.

In an unrelated item, the U.S. Department of Transportation said today that it fined Delta Air Lines Inc. $750,000 for not complying with rules for bumping passengers from oversold flights.

However, the DOT is letting Delta use $425,000 of the fine to buy tablet computers to record consumer decisions on over-booked flights and to train Delta staff to use the devices.

The DOT fined Delta for: not seeking volunteers to give up their seats on oversold flights; bumping passengers involuntarily without providing a written notice of their rights, including a right to cash compensation; and misclassifying bumped passengers as volunteers.

Southwest Airlines offers some of the most Wi-Fi connectivity on U.S. flights, according to a new report by the travel website Routehappy.

The Dallas-based is No. 2, after Delta Air.

Southwest’s numbers are actually higher if you include AirTran Airways. The two airlines merged two years ago, but their systems are still being integrated.

Overall, fliers will find Wi-Fi on 38 percent of U.S. flights if they want to use their smartphones, laptops and tablet computers when allowed, according to the report. The service seems to be more prevalent on longer flights.

Here are some other findings from Routehappy:

* The most connected U.S. route is between Los Angeles to San Francisco and New York, but Atlanta flights (Delta’s home base) have a significant amount of Wi-Fi, too.

* Long-haul Boeing 737 jets tend to have the most Wi-Fi. Bombardier CRJ regional jets have the least.

* Fliers get the most bang for their buck by paying for Wi-Fi in economy class seats with more than 30 inches between the seats – enough room to open a laptop — and on flights of 500 miles or more.

* Another important feature to stay connected during a flight is in-seat power for electronic gadgets. Delta and American provide the most in-seat power along with Wi-Fi.

* Only 6.5 percent of international flights from the United States offer some type of Wi-Fi.

Routehappy analyzed flights scheduled for July 7 through its proprietary database to produce this report.